Field Reports

Response Expo Set to Blow the Doors Off of San Diego

Other information reported in the survey includes: 99 percent of households own at least one color television; nearly 82 percent of households have two or more television sets, while 52 percent have three or more; more than 64 percent of households have wired cable, and 85 percent have at least one VCR.

While it is not clear in the method that television was watched, either as background noise or as the main form of entertainment, figures and facts were recorded using Nielsen monitoring boxes.

Unilever 1Q Profit up 1% While Sales Beat Target

LONDON — Unilever, owner of brands including Dove soap, Ben & Jerry's ice cream and Knorr soup, reported a sales increase of just 1 percent in 1Q net profit. However, the underlying growth of the company beat expectations as its shares rose nearly 5 percent.

Net profit for the three months ending March 31 increased $1.46 billion, with sales climbing 2.1 percent to $4.82 billion.

In Europe, Unilever said warm weather led to better ice cream results, with sales increasing 2.1, though margins fell due to restructuring costs. In the United States, sales fell 5.5 percent because of the weak value of the dollar. Underlying growth was 3.2 percent, with strong performances in frozen food and teas outweighing a loss of market share in ice cream.

Google to Fight Viacom Lawsuit with 'Safe Harbor'

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — It took about a month following Viacom's announcement of its $1 billion copyright infringement lawsuit against Google, but, finally, Google is fighting back. In a response to the suit, filed April 30 in Federal District Court in Manhattan, Google seeks a dismissal of the case, calling the claims "unfounded."

News Corner

Google's court filings give few new details into its legal thinking, which is banking heavily on the "safe harbor" provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) of 1998. The provisions hold that Web site owners cannot be held liable for copyrighted material uploaded by users of their Web site as long as the content is promptly removed when asked by the copyright owner.

However, Viacom's claim comes after Google's YouTube.com Web site didn't remove more than 100,000 clips of popular Viacom programming from cable networks including Comedy Central, MTV and Nickelodeon.

Viacom said that Google's response "ignores the most important fact of the suit, which is that YouTube does not qualify for safe harbor protection under the DMCA. It is obvious that YouTube had knowledge of infringing material on their site, and they are profiting from it."

In the lawsuit, Viacom complains that it was unfairly forced to devote significant resources to police YouTube. "Every day we have to scour the entirety of what is available on YouTube. We have to look for our stuff," Philippe Dauman, Viacom's chief executive, said in a statement earlier this year.